CC 6 -ch 12-

Ash’s Qi crept and crawled it’s way along the carved stone.

And it was most certainly carved, at least roughly, given how he could practically feel where the chisel marks began an end with his Qi. With each shaving of the rock his Qi would have to flex to accommodate it.

“Ah… Lo… Lord Sheng, we’ve stabilized the patients,” said a voice to Ash’s left.

He nodded his head in response but stared into the portal.

“Good work,” he murmured. There was an odd feeling in his middle Dantian as he stood there. A response to each beat of his Dao. “You’re working under Qi-Healer Rou?”

“Yes, Lord Sheng. Apparently I’m one myself, though my talent isn’t as great as… as Sister Rou’s,” said the woman.

Now that got Ash’s attention.

Glancing over he saw it was one of the women from the modern world.

He stared at her for several seconds and then looked back to the portal as his Qi continued to move deeper into the cave.

“Good. Be sure to work well under Rou. If you need anything, ask her. She’ll ask me. I’ll make it happen,” he asserted. “For Rou Sheng, I’d move the heavens and the earth, after all.”

“Yes, Lord Sheng. Of course, Lord Sheng. I just… I just wanted to say thank you as well as report in,” the woman continued. “I’d already missed my chance to go to school and… and thank you.”

Ash only grunted and nodded his head at that.

Only to realize belatedly he needed to actually respond.

“Of course. Be sure to be a proper envoy when you go back to Sheng Island and recruit more Brides,” he said as his Qi began to narrow. It seemed he had finally reached at least the halfway point for the cavern.

As if in response to the fact that the tide had clearly turned, there was a crackling boom that shook the frozen underground that Ash and his people were in. It seemed to have come from the darkness ahead of Ash.

The endless horde of beasts and monsters abruptly ended.

No more pushed forward and the portal was now only dropping those who couldn’t back away or move. Those who were stuck at the front even as the mass turned and went the other way.

“Hm. Well, it’s time to step back into our original realm then,” Ash declared. “Push forward, Knights of Sheng. Tala, Chu, please light the way for them.”

The Knights of Sheng were extreme warriors with physical abilities that were immense.

Their night vision was somewhat limited by their bodies.

Despite being as strong as they were, they were still bound by many restrictions of their human shells. Unlike Cultivators, the Knights had a limit that they could reach power-wise.

The rest would be training, determination, and dedication.

“Let’s remember this moment as a group. An organization. A family,” continued Ash even as several flames were brought forth into the cavern beyond the portal. “The moment the Sheng returned to their plane. Because regardless of where we end up, we’ll need to remember our humble roots.”

“Mother Fa and Father Duyi brought forth Lord Sheng,” proclaimed one of the Brides in the formation.

“Great Elder Gen nurtured the Lord and his wives,” stated what sounded very male, which meant it was a Knight.

Marching forward before he could ask anything further, the Knights entered the darkened cavern and pushed onward.

You’re making this some type of priesthood around me.

“It isn’t me, actually. It’s all them, sweetheart. All them.

“I’ve done my best to curb their beliefs but it’s very hard to do that when you suddenly turn your gaze to the Sheng alliance inside your Dantian.

“Your middle Dantian has quite literally become the personification of ‘Lord Sheng’ and ‘The Sheng’. Brides and Knights all expect to be there almost as soon as they’re inducted now.

“You’re the reason this is happening.

“Your momentum is far too great. Far too much for anything to halt it from becoming what it is now.”

Ash mentally huffed at that idea and considered grabbing hold of fate for a moment.

Because Fate and Time had a momentum.

He had reversed it for Chunhua and Hui already and would be quick to do it again.

As if in response to his thoughts, the momentum of his Dao pushed upward. Drawing another measure of Qi into itself and pulling on the Bonds of Sheng.

There was a confirmation in it that seemed to make sure everyone was well and part of the momentum.

Endless responses came back to him as his Dao acted.

From chuckles and laughter from those who knew him best or those like Siu and Ghast, to whimpering expressions of obeisance and love from Brides who only knew of him but hadn’t met him directly.

The Knights all felt more like a salute in response but all had variations in them as well. Pride, determination, and respect.

“Like that. When you do things like that. It only reinforces Lord Sheng. A Lord Sheng who confirmed the presence of every single member of the Sheng. Just so you know, it felt as if the sun had appeared over my head, bathed me in warmth, and looked me over. As if to insure I was well, had what I needed, and whole.

“Then left.

“I felt quite cold afterward in comparison, you know. In a strange way I crave that warmth now.”

Sorry.

I just… was thinking about Chu and Hui.

Ash moved forward across the line of the portal and re-entered the realm he had come from.

The front line had finally moved up and beyond into the cave and pressed to the edges of it, making sure to spread themselves out just in case something broke through the portal Ash had erected.

Only for the world to shift, blur, and practically explode in front of Ash.

The darkened cave, portal, Knights, and Brides were all gone in that same strange flash.

All that remained was the light that was now blinding Ash and nothing else.

Flinching away, Ash put his hand up in front of his eyes to shield them from the intensity of the light. Despite that, even with his eyes closed, Ash still felt the intensity of the light to the point that he turned his head away as well.

Even that wasn’t enough and it felt what Ash imagined being stabbed in the eyes was like.

He activated his Dao, pulled on his abilities, and even attempted to spring-step away. Nothing worked and nothing changed.

Screaming, yet not hearing his own voice, Ash continued to squirm away. Fruitlessly working to hide his face away from the extremeness that was the light.

Just like that, the light turned off. Causing Ash to just about freeze in place with the absolute instantaneousness of it.

Simply going away like someone had unplugged it from the wall.

Ash finally heard himself screaming, which caused his voice to falter. Falter and then cut off as he opened his eyes, dropped into a combat ready stance.

His hands flew up, Qi-formed Butterfly Swords appeared in his hands, and he called up his abilities once more.

There was nothing waiting for him.

No enemies, no beasts, no monsters.

He stood in an empty room that could only be described as massive.

Vaulted ceilings so high, walls so far apart, that Ash felt like one could put a convenience store in this room and have room for a few parking spaces.

Every single surface looked to be gilded or carved.

Glittering and shimmering without any light striking it what-so-ever.

“What?” Ash asked, wondering just what was going on. “Hello?”

There was oddly no echo to his voice and it left him feeling uncomfortable.

Only to realize it wasn’t that there was no echo, it’s that there was no sound here. No sound at all that wasn’t coming from him.

Ash stood there, perfectly still, listening.

He heard nothing.

Looking from left to right, Ash surveyed the room.

It was so eerily silent that he swore he heard his eyes moving inside his skull. Rotating in their sockets even as he looked out to the room.

“Hello?” Ash tried again.

Locke?

Neither Locke, nor anyone else, responded to his call.

Chewing at his lower lip for a second, Ash slowly let his posture fall away. Moving into a stance that was little more than just standing there.

Lifting his foot up Ash stomped it down to the rather solid looking tile.

There was a pop from his foot connecting and then nothing at all.

No echo yet again.

“This is fucked,” he muttered to himself and started moving toward the far side of this room.

Distantly, at the other side of it, was a doorway with an open door. There were a handful of what looked a lot like doorways as well, yet all of them had closed doors.

None of them were open other than the one in the center that Ash was moving toward.

“Hello?” he called again, despite having no answer up to this point.

The soft rustling of his shoes moving over the tiles were the only noises other than his clothes rustling. Street clothes from the modern world weren’t as loud as the rough cloth he had often dressed in from the kingdoms, but they felt as if they were a thunderous cacophony here given the silence and lack of echoes.

Ash made it to the doorway and found that the door had been swung outward. It had an overly ornate handle that was golden in color as if it had been gilded in gold as well.

Looking through the doorway he saw there was a single old-man here. Sitting at a desk empty of anything at all, save for a single sheet of paper, an ink-well, and a quill.

“Ah, Ashley Sheng?” asked the old man, causing Ash to start.

Moving over to the old man, Ash took his features into account and truly looked at him now.

He wasn’t actually old, but somehow, was also old.

His hair was  perfect white and flowed down behind his head in long waves. Reaching all the way down to his waist as he sat in his chair.

Eyebrows that were far too long without giving him an odd almost comical look stretched out above brown-eyes that were alive and held a strange joy to Ash.

The reason why Ash felt like the man was old, but not old, was his features were mature, but there wasn’t a single wrinkle on his face that would come with aging.

Almost as if this man had been born old and never suffered the effects of being amongst the living. That perhaps he was a spirit, deity, or some sort of malign presence.

“Yes, you’re Ashley Sheng. The Fated One,” said the old man, looking to the sheet of paper in front of him. “Your destiny is unwritten as you’re not part of the realm. You never were.

“You were brought here by a veil-lapped deity. One that you have turned into your wife and servant.”

Stopping before the table, Ash looked to the piece of paper curiously.

As far as Ash could tell, there wasn’t much written there.

A single bit of what he would consider a smudge of ink in the top left and nothing more. It looked more to Ash as if a dirty quill had accidentally touched the page as a hand was moved past.

“While your destiny is unwritten, there is a great deal that is already in motion and tells us much,” the man whispered to himself and then quickly dipped the quill into the ink pot. Moving the tip of it to the smear of ink he began to delicately tap at the paper. His hand moving in minuscule amounts. “Like the fact that you will have a great many children is something that cannot be denied. The number of your wives doesn’t seem to be very large comparatively, which means they shall drown you in children. Given your lack of a desire for one-night stands or to take pleasure from random women, it is the only likely outcome.

“Especially Tala-Tala. This veil-borne wife has a fate that intersects with motherhood repeatedly.”

“Who… are you?” Ash asked, watching at the old-not-old man tapped at the paper.

Ash finally realized that the smear of ink was actually some type of writing and was the entirety of Ash’s life so far. That this sheet of paper would be his whole existence.

“I’m a Celestial Scribe,” the man offered brightly. “Well, the only Celestial Scribe at the moment. I’m afraid everyone else has… ah… gone off. Yes.

“Now, looking to the current moment. You’ve just made a circuit of the realms. Bringing all three back to one another for the first time in… a very long time.

“It was genuinely almost too late but it seems you being the Fated One was nearly for fate itself,  rather than anyone else.”

“So… the prison, the modern realm, and the original realm, were all part of one… government? Group? Uh… realm?” Ash asked. This was something he had most certainly wanted to know.”

“It was one collection I suppose you could say. The portals closing after integrating all three realms together has nearly ended things.

“The cycle of rebirth has suffered horribly as there was nowhere else for souls to go, nor to receive fresh souls to birth into bodies.

“It’s not that they can be reborn into the realm they came from without going to another realm after all. That wouldn’t give them separation or a chance to grow.

“Nor is the number of new souls created every year enough. On it’s own, it’s just unable to keep the cycle going anymore.

“Though to be fair, the cycle wasn’t made for a single realm to support when this all started. That’s beside the point though.”

Ash blinked slowly, his left hand came up to press to his mouth, and he deeply considered the words that’d been said. Said with a casual carelessness that spoke to long awareness he realized that this individual was aware of far more than Ash could’ve guessed.

“You’re saying… that the realms are running out of souls?” Ash summarized. “Because each realm receives reincarnated individuals from other realms? There’s new souls but they’re not enough.”

“Indeed, that’s a good summary. The principles of heaven are clear and evident,” the Celestial Scribe murmured, still tapping at the paper. “And while I believed the righteous path would endure the ages, I’ve felt the press of anxiety keenly.

“We have perhaps enough souls for another year or two. Your daughter was granted a fresh soul, before you ask. One of the few we had.

“Even though you must fall back, and the cycle will close again, I’m glad that you at least made it this far and understand what’s at stake. Soon, the heavens simply won’t be able to support the realms.”

My daughter?

“But now that you’ve opened the way, the cycle can begin again. Or at least, as soon as you clear the way,” the Scribe finished, then promptly stuck the quill into the air. It hovered there as if it’d been stabbed into something. “The projection of the One Emperor remains in your way. A vestige of the man when he lived. He will kill everyone in your group and with extreme prejudice.

“You included.

“You do not have the ability to fight him as you are now. It will only result in your end. Everyone’s end. You must turn around.”

Ash felt a strange finality in those words.

That it was the absolute truth and to fight against it was to deny the laws of the universe.

“I refuse,” Ash said immediately. He wasn’t going to be denied his return to his realm.

Most especially now that he heard that he had a daughter. This was most certainly the child that’d been in Princess Ju. It would be his first born and he had unfortunately missed the birth of her.

“Your current ability, your lower and middle Dantian, are not strong enough to fight this apparition. This psychic projection. It is quite literally all that remains of the One Emperor,” advised the Scribe. “You cannot win. This is more than just a tribulation set by the heavens. We did not set this at all.

“This is beyond you and all those you hold dear.

“I have intervened at this juncture to insure you, as the Fated One of the Heavens, does not meet their end here. Even your Fortune’s Chosen cannot save you from this end if you proceed any further.”

Ash had felt an odd ache from inside himself as the man spoke.

An ache he knew was fear and disappointment.

That to stop here was not the right answer and he needed to push on. To push on and fight the projection regardless of what the Scribe told him.

To figure out a way to defeat him and win.

“There must be a way,” Ash replied, his mind already firming up on his course.

He was a stubborn man and would do as he wished even if it wasn’t the best option.

It was one of the reasons he had been so passive for so long, only to finally switch gears and deliberately push past anything that seemed passive at all.

“Not as you are. Ashley Sheng cannot succeed,” repeated the Scribe with a sad shake of their head. “You simply aren’t—”

There was a brief pain in Ash’s head followed by a pop.

Standing next to him was Locke in her extreme beauty and presence.

“Oh! Well. Look at that. I broke right in,” Locke said, looking one way, then the other, to the Scribe, then Ash. “Well, now I feel almost silly. I thought for sure some female deity had stolen you away and was trying to sweet talk you into something.

“My jealous heart got the better of me and I decided to break in. Though… where are we?”

Locke threw her arms around Ash as she spoke, put her head against his own, and held tight to him.

“Nevermind, I read your memories,” Locke said with a laugh. “Oopsie doopsie. Be a dear and punish or reward me later.”

“I’ll give you another Sisui. A punishment or a reward, not sure yet,” Ash teased. He knew that Locke wasn’t very happy at having a personal assistant like Sisui who was weirdly devoted to Ash and Locke in equal measure.

Romantically toward Ash, platonically toward Locke.

He was determined to never meet the woman for any reason.

“You… wouldn’t,” breathed Locke, pulling her head away to stare at him. She clicked her tongue, pouted, and looked to the Scribe. “He’s not powerful enough? No matter what we do?”

“Not with how he is today,” answered the Scribe.

“Today?” Ash repeated back, wondering what that meant. “Locke, how did you know I was here? How much time has passed?”

“A really small fraction of time. One of those silly made-up sounding scientific words, in fact,” Locke answered.

“Like a femtosecond?” he replied, smiling at Locke.

“Gesundheit,” said Locke with a nod of her head.

Unable to help himself, he just stared at Locke. Smiling at her all the while.

Causing the sex-demoness turned house-wife to blush, smile, and slowly look away.

Ash turned back to the Scribe.

“Not how I am today, but… how I might be tomorrow. Or the day after. Are you speaking in relative terms, like my power level?” Ash asked. “Last I checked I was something akin to an awakened Mortal. Close enough that I’m already pushing the boundaries of being allowed in the middle realm.”

“Very close. While that rainbow chain to the horned god didn’t last long, it gave you a lot of power,” Locke inserted.

The Celestrial Scribe smiled but said nothing.

There was a strange thought that popped up in Ash’s head.

If it wasn’t power, there was only one thing else it could be.

Waiting a few seconds, Ash then looked to Locke.

“Can I open my Upper Dantian before I become an Immortal?” he asked.

The Upper Dantian was related to spirituality, insight, and actual enlightenment.

Learning from the lower and middle Dantian’s and incorporating it all into what a person was, along with their Dao and how it all aligned.

Reminds me of that test so long ago.

Where I had to push back the energy by getting it to focus through all three Dantians and to line up my Dao.

Hm.

I wonder if Gen would be able to direct me in this matter if I could reach out to him.

He probably was able to open his own Upper Dantian.

The Scribe only smiled wider and said nothing else.

“It’s a psychic projection you said? What remains of the dead Emperor? The One Emperor?” Ash clarified. “And how long can I remain here?

“Indeed. It’s a remnant of the man. A psychic impression of them that they deliberately left behind to protect the portal,” confirmed the Scribe. “You cannot fight them and win.

“As to how long you may remain here… well, as long as you wish. Though the longer you’re here, the more tenuous your hold on your own material form is. This is the spirit realm after all.”

“Then I won’t fight him at this time nor will I remain too long.

“When the time comes, I’ll disperse the apparition or appease it. Right after I get that Upper Dantian moving,” Ash said, nodded his head, kissed Locke briefly, then sat down right there.

He folded his legs, held his hands with the palms up atop his knees, and closed his eyes.

“Alright, my beautiful Locke Sheng,” he said after he settled his mind down. “Help me pop this open. Because knowing you’re tricky and lovely self, you already have a good idea of what to do.”

Locke sighed loudly, with a smile clearly in the sound.

“Yes, dear,” she murmured, sounding amused. “And I agree. I think… I think with a psychic projection of a dead person, One Emperor or not, we’ll need the upper Dantian open.

“Though ‘popping it open’ is something that most certainly won’t happen. It’s going to take time and effort… still… I’m just… worried, sweetheart. It’s early for you and… and… it could become problematic.”

“I do what I must. We must move forward,” Ash replied with a smile, his eyes still closed. There was a rightness to his words that fit his belief in his Dao.

The momentum was to move forward in this, not to recede.

“Okay… well… first, let’s get into your middle Dantian. Then you need to just… listen.”

Nodding his head once, Ash looked to his middle Dantian and listened.